Huga Goto, at 2, looks at all the costumes while trick-or-treating last year during the Munchkin Masquerade on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. (Jeremy Papasso / Boulder Daily Camera)
The most chronic disease of early childhood is tooth decay.
Despite being largely preventable, tooth decay continues to plague children, especially those in lower-income families, even more in this last decade than before. At least 4 million preschoolers suffer with it.
So before your children head off to fill bags, buckets, pillow cases and totes with sugar-laden substances, here are some things to consider.
Some dentists actually recommend that than rationing it over days or weeks, according to LiveScience.
The slow snacking keeps teeth awash longer in enamel-eroding acid, the byproduct of bacteria feeding on sugar and other carbohydrates, writes Christopher Wanjek, LiveScience Bad Medicine columnist.
Wanjek says that candy isn’t the worst thing for your teeth. The most harmful factors are stickiness and acidity, so potato chips and fruit chews or leathers are actually worse than chocolate. Among candies, sour gummies are the worst for teeth, he says.
Pediatric dentist Dr. Elizabeth Shick with the CU School of Dental Medicine at the Anschutz Medical Campus agrees sticky or sour candies, or hard candies that stay in the mouth a long time, are the worst for teeth.
Besides the obvious recommendation — always brush before bedtime — Schick says set aside a special treat time each day so that children have a limited exposure instead of all-day candy eating. Consider having treat time shortly after mealtimes, she says, because saliva production increases during meals and helps neutralize bacteria production in the mouth and rinse away food particles.
Some things to consider year-round:
Even baby teeth cavities need to be filled, according to ChildrensDentalHealth.com. and long-term dental sensitivity. Baby or primary teeth that are healthy and present help with proper chewing and nutrition, speech development and they serve as better guides for erupting permanent teeth, the site says.
The Affordable Care Act expanded dental coverage, and among the services that must now be covered at no cost by all health plans are: oral-health risk assessments by a pediatrician and application of fluoride varnish for children through age 5.
The act also gives state Medicaid programs the option of receiving a 1 percent increase in federal matching funds if states provide all the ACA services at no cost to patients. Colorado is one of 10 states that had chosen this option as of September.
While many insurers, including state Medicaid programs, might limit paid preventive care to dentist visits every six months, some children need more frequent care, according to the Children’s Dental Health Project, an independent nonprofit dedicated to stamping out cavities.
To design state Medicaid programs that provide pediatric dental benefits in a way to improve oral health while potentially reducing costs per kid, the project and studies suggest, care should be tailored to each child’s individual needs rather than traditional schedules that limit services to high-risk patients.
Aggressive preventive treatment combined with intensive follow-up for cavity-prone kids could reduce cavities by 27 percent and return 76 cent to 88 cents for every dollar spent, according to the Children’s Dental Health Project’s fall 2014 policy brief.
The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommends that children, ages 6 months to 5 years, at high risk for tooth decay should receive topical fluoride treatments or fluoride varnish more frequently than twice a year.
“Fluoride varnish is most cost-effective when (targeting) the highest-risk children ages 2-5 years, generating a return of 65 cents for every dollar spent,” the project’s policy brief says.
Mothers and other caregivers usually transmit to infants the most common source of tooth decay in humans, Streptococcus mutans. But a mother can reduce the risk by decreasing bacterial concentrations in her saliva, according to the Children’s Dental Health Project. A mother chewing Xylitol gum could reduce cavities in children by 34 percent over a 10-year period, the project says.
The project also supports community water fluoridation and investing in toothbrushing lessons through early childhood education programs, such as Head Start.
Many at appropriate levels, yet some communities remain opposed to it.
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